Nasira left the next day and it was two weeks before she managed to free Matt from Hojo's lab. Hojo was injured during her rescue mission, but not killed, much to everyone's chagrin. Tseng received hell for not informing anyone of Nasira's departure and it was believed that she had received outside help during her rescue mission. Tseng had sent everyone to 'search' for the missing pair, but everyone knew that looking meant they were to go to the places in the slums where they were sure the two wouldn't hide and hope to Gaia that they didn't find them. They were now listed as KOS, kill on sight.
Reno, Rude, Gareth, and Tseng spent almost every waking moment scouring the slums for the duo, making it look like the Turks were on the case and completely capable of retrieving Shinra's lost property, but in reality none of them wanted to find their ex-comrades.
Ellie spent every spare minute she had on the phone, trying to reach Nasira and crying. After about a week of calling she succeeded in reaching Nasira and was able to talk to her. She didn't show up for work the next day, and two weeks after the call no one knew where she was. She was listed in their mission file among the people to look for, and the same approach was taken in their search for her. Look in the obvious places and hope that she was with Nasira and Matt. Jareth didn't stay long after Ellie left. He went 'missing' two days after she did. It wasn't a surprise to anyone, it was obvious that he wanted her and no one really missed his sulky attitude and infectious anger.
Brandon stayed, much to everyones surprise and relief. He and Matt were best friends and Tseng had expected him to leave with Nasira, but Brandon wanted to stay, his reasoning was, "I have to let Cissnei know I'm not dead before I desert."
After a month of poking around the slums Shinra put his foot down. He made it know that if the missing Turks weren't found and killed the remaining Turks would be, deserters were not tolerated and made him look bad. It was after this announcement that Veld, completely aware of the tactics they had been using since the start, made them search for real. Tseng knew they were still in Midgar, that they were under the plate, and that they were well hidden and most likely aided by a gang. He knew this because not one thing happened above plate that Shinra didn't know about, everything was carefully monitored via cameras and spies. Not a damn thing went amiss above the plate and the only way out of Midgar was above the plate. Since none of the Turks had been caught trying to leave Midgar, the only reasonable place for them to be was in the slums and any fugitive hiding from Shinra in the slums became part of a gang.
Reno and Rude traipsed through the slums, searching every empty warehouse and scouring every corner of every alley. They made it to sector five before Reno started complaining, and they made it to sector six before Rude got sick of it. Neither of them enjoyed being in the slums and it noticeably strained their ability to work with each other. The slums held horrible memories for both of them.
"Lets take a break and eat something." Rude growled, "I'm sick of searching. It's like looking for a blue needle in a stack of grey needles and I'm sick of pricking my finger on false leads."
"They might be easier to find if they were blue." Reno snorted and led the way into a nearby diner, one they were both familiar with. "Brings back memories doesn't it?"
"Not good ones." Rude huffed, pulling up a tacky plastic chair and frowning at the greasy menu.
"There's a few good ones!" Reno pouted, "Remember when me, you, and Fay came here for your birthday and the owner gave us free ice cream?"
"How the hell do you remember that?" Rude asked after the ordered their food. "That was years ago. I'm surprised I remember."
"It was a good memory yo." Reno shrugged, looking about the dingy diner with a nostalgic look.
Rude smiled, reminiscing, "Yeah it was."
"Think we'll ever find 'em?" Reno asked as a waiter who couldn't be older than ten brought them their food.
"I don't know if I want too." Rude sighed, stabbing moodily at his food.
"Me either. You think the others are having any luck? They were supposed to wait for us in this sector, you think maybe they found somethin'?"
"Or they got sick of waiting." Rude suggested as he pushed his food around on his plate.
"The food isn't as good I remember." Reno frowned sadly at his plate.
Rude sighed and pushed his plate away, "We used to think this stuff was amazing."
Reno followed suit and pushed his plate away, "We came here the day after Fay died."
"I don't think that's why the food sucks." Rude chuckled humorlessly.
"No, but it does make it fuckin' hard to eat here." Reno shook his head and stood up, "Lets get back to lookin' yo, Tseng's probably shittin' himself waitin' on us."
Rude snorted and stood up to leave. He stopped short of the door and went back, pulling out his wallet and setting a large amount of gil on the table next to their uneaten food.
They continued looking as they walked down the sector, asking passerby if they knew anything and getting a mute reply. They were halfway down the sector when Reno spotted Gareth leaning against a wall, obviously waiting for them. He grinned and sprinted happily towards his moody lover, giving him an enthusiastic hug as a greeting. Gareth smiled weakly and waited for Rude to catch up with the over eager red-head before saying anything. "What's wrong yo?" Reno pestered, confused by Gareth's uncharacteristic silence.
"We found them." Gareth sighed, hands balling into fists at his sides. "They're in a warehouse with some gang called Avalanche and they want us all there for a final showdown." He snorted angrily, "You two better be ready to kick some ass, we're ridiculously outnumbered. We might not make it out, Nasira, Matt, Ellie, and Jareth are gonna be a problem. They're willing to kill us or die trying and they found friends to help them."
Reno closed his eyes and gave a mournful sigh, "This is gonna suck."
"Truer words have never been spoken." Gareth chuckled and gave Reno a lingering kiss, "In case we don't make it out."
Reno winked, "We'll make it out. Don't we always make it out alive Rude?" Rude gave an amused grunt, "See Gareth? We'll be just fine. Might get roughed up a little, but we'll always make it out."
"Good Gaia I hope so." Gareth sighed before giving them an encouraging smile and leading them down an alley.
Author's Note: I know, two chapters in one day! What am I thinking? What I'm thinking is, I want the rest of this story out just as much as you do. Hopefully you won't hate me when it's all over.....
I'm going to refrain from updating this any further until I get some more damned reviews. I feel like my efforts at a story are being wasted and I don't appreciate that. To the readers who do review, I thank you. To the ones that don't, why the hell not yo?